Pesticide Residue in Fruits and Vegetables

Below is a table of 43 fruits and vegetables that were tested by the Environmental Working Group for pesticide residue. The foods are ranked from worst to best (descending) and the chart will tell you what percentage of that particular fruit/vegetable had pesticides on it and how many pesticides could be detected on each fruit/vegetable. For example, peaches were the worst. 96.6% of peaches had pesticides on them. 86.6% of the peaches had 2 or more different pesticides on them. It’s pretty scary stuff. Makes some foods seem a little less, um, peachy…

Rank (worst to best)

Commodity

Combined Score

Percentage of Samples Tested with Detectable Pesticides

Percentage of Samples With Two or More Pesticides

Average Number of Pesticides Found on a Sample

Average Amount (in ppm*) of All Pesticides Found

Maximum Number of Pesticides Found on a Single Sample

Number of Pesticides Found on the Commodity in Total

1

Peaches

100

96.6%

86.6%

3.1

1.134

9

42

2

Apples

96

93.6%

82.3%

2.8

0.894

9

50

3

Sweet Bell Peppers

86

81.5%

62.2%

2.4

0.138

11

64

4

Celery

85

94.1%

79.8%

3.0

0.413

9

30

5

Nectarines

84

97.3%

85.3%

3.0

0.576

7

26

6

Strawberries

83

92.3%

69.2%

2.3

0.799

8

38

7

Cherries

75

91.4%

75.8%

2.8

0.290

7

25

8

Lettuce

69

68.2%

44.2%

1.7

0.142

9

57

9

Grapes – Imported

68

84.2%

53.2%

1.8

0.284

8

37

10

Pears

65

86.2%

45.7%

1.6

0.586

6

33

11

Spinach

60

70.0%

31.2%

1.1

1.240

6

24

12

Potatoes

58

81.0%

18.0%

1.0

1.655

4

18

13

Carrots

57

81.7%

48.3%

1.6

0.046

6

31

14

Green Beans

55

67.6%

42.0%

1.4

0.199

6

35

15

Hot Peppers

53

55.0%

27.5%

1.0

0.290

6

51

16

Cucumbers

52

72.5%

31.7%

1.2

0.057

6

40

17

Raspberries

47

47.9%

23.3%

0.9

0.906

6

21

18

Plums

46

74.0%

27.1%

1.1

0.666

4

15

19

Oranges

46

85.1%

34.6%

1.3

0.100

4

18

20

Grapes – Domestic

46

60.5%

23.4%

0.9

0.104

7

31

21

Cauliflower

39

84.6%

14.6%

1.0

0.004

5

15

22

Tangerines

38

66.7%

33.3%

1.2

0.375

3

4

23

Mushrooms

37

60.2%

22.3%

0.9

0.158

5

16

24

Cantaloupe

34

53.3%

19.4%

0.8

0.026

4

25

25

Lemon

31

55.6%

10.0%

0.7

0.188

5

10

26

Honeydew Melon

31

59.2%

14.2%

0.8

0.012

4

16

27

Grapefruit

31

62.9%

15.2%

0.8

0.056

4

9

28

Winter Squash

31

41.3%

11.6%

0.6

0.017

5

26

29

Tomatoes

30

46.9%

13.5%

0.6

0.029

5

16

30

Sweet Potatoes

30

58.4%

10.0%

0.7

0.198

3

17

31

Watermelons

25

38.5%

13.2%

0.6

0.021

4

13

32

Blueberries

24

27.5%

10.0%

0.4

0.327

4

11

33

Papaya

21

23.5%

5.0%

0.3

0.053

4

19

34

Eggplant

19

23.4%

6.9%

0.3

0.013

4

15

35

Broccoli

18

28.1%

3.2%

0.3

0.004

3

19

36

Cabbage

17

17.9%

4.8%

0.2

0.121

3

18

37

Bananas

16

41.7%

2.0%

0.4

0.029

2

7

38

Kiwi

14

15.3%

3.4%

0.2

0.160

3

8

40

Asparagus

11

6.7%

0.6%

0.1

0.026

2

19

41

Sweet Peas – Frozen

11

22.9%

2.3%

0.3

0.010

2

5

42

Mango

9

7.1%

0.5%

0.1

0.057

2

13

43

Pineapples

7

7.7%

0.6%

0.1

0.002

2

7

44

Sweet Corn – Frozen

2

3.8%

0.0%

0.0

0.005

1

3

45

Avocado

1

1.4%

0.0%

0.0

0.001

1

2

46

Onions

1

0.2%

0.0%

0.0

0.000

1

2

Note: EWG ranked a total of 42 different fruits and vegetables but grapes are listed twice because they looked at both domestic and imported samples.